Need Advice on Refinishing Floors

[Dennis Kelly]

Hello,
My basement floor is about 25 years old. It is a parquet pattern and in pretty good shape, but as you can imagine, the topcoat is completely gone.
I am planning on refinishing the floors this spring. Any advice is more than appreciated from some of your experiences. Some of my concerns are uniformity of the finish, should I use shellac before staining? What products have you had success with? Do the borg finishing products hold up or should I look elsewhere?

Dennis

[Sam Yerardi]

If the parquet floor is oak, I don't think you would need to seal it with shellac prior to staining. I think you will get fairly consistent absorption of stain with oak (with respect to uneveness or blotching). I've had good luck with Varathane, Pratt & Lambert products, etc.

[Ben Grunow]

Just be sure to remove all of the old finish (scrape between balusters and in corners with very sharp scraper) and you will be fine.

My floor guys sand using 3 different grits (not sure which but I know there are 3 steps) and fill any cracks between the first and second. Their filler smell like it has alcohol in it so it dries quick. I have never had any problem with their system.

Stain and 3 coats of oil or water based poly (bona brand on the WB).

[Jon Crowley]

When renting a sander, you have a choice between a drum and ROS. The ROS, while slower, is nearly impossible to mess up. Since you have parquet style floors, I think that it would be even more useful.

With a drum sander, it is really easy to sand uneven waves into your floor unless you have experience running one.

[Jason Roehl]

Pros mostly use belt sanders and edgers, not the drum sanders or the ROS. That should tell you something right there...

As for finish, I would not use shellac before stain, but after it, especially with WB poly, as the shellac will help prevent grain-raise. I would also skip any filler in cracks (it's fine for holes and gouges and the like), as it will crack over time as well or even lift out, either of which looks worse than just having minor gaps.

I would consider skipping the stain if you do it yourself--stain greatly increases the difficulty of making the floor look good. Or, get some quotes from some pros. In my area, a stained, re-finished floor runs about $2.75-$3.00/s.f. (I just did one for about that).

As for what grits to use, it depends on how difficult the finish is to remove. Your initial grit should get 100% of the finish off on about 90% of the floor (IMO). Anything less and you will tend to be clogging the sanding media quickly. Subsequent grits are to remove the scratches of the previous grits. I've started with 24 grit, and I've started with 60 grit. Most commonly, I start with 40 grit on the belt sander and 60 grit on the edger and work my way to 100. I've shied away from skipping grits (you can), as I find it's not a lot of extra work to hit all the grits, but it's a big quality payoff. If you do skip a grit, then you'll have to slow down quite a bit with the next one. For instance, with the belt sander, 40-60-100 is common, but then the pass with 100 grit is pretty slow to get out the 60-grit scratches. That makes it worthwhile to go ahead and throw 80-grit into the mix.

[Dennis Kelly]

Thanks for the tips!
After reading your advice and doing some more research, I think I will sand with 60, 80, and 100 grit. Then stain, and 3 coats of water based poly.
I think I feel more comfortable with the ROS rather than the belt sander...only because I'm sure I will make a mistake at some point.
Thanks again.
Dennis

[Grant Lasson]

Dennis,

I did my oak floors last year. What a learning experience! I recommend the ROS approach. I filled the grain, applied the stain (I used too dark a color--it looks great but the scratches are too apparent) and the applied shellac sanding sealer (dewaxed) after the stain. The BORG WB PU bond to the shellac has not done well. For that matter, it hasn't worn well. I would never recommend it to anyone. For the entry way, I used a 2 part finish called XTERRA (from DuraSeal?). It was easier to apply, looks richer, has bonded to the shellac well and has worn much better. I will repeat: I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND THE BORG WB PU PRODUCTS!

[Dennis Kelly]

Grant,
I think I got it...make sure I use BORG WB PU PRODUCTS!
Only kidding, than you for your advice. Learning through other people's mistakes is priceless. I'll try and post pics when I'm done.

Dennis